Pitcher Nolan Golan, a fourth-round selection by Tampa Bay in 2012 out of Santa Fe Christian, does a strength and stability drill during his two-hour workout at Athletes' Performance in Carlsbad. Five workouts a week, from September through March, make up the offseason program. MARCIA C. SMITH, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Jason Maresh, the director of the baseball program for the seven Athletes' Performance facilities around the country, demonstrates the Keiser Triple Trainer's pneumatic resistance system on Oct. 22, 2013 at AP in Carlsbad. Maresh expects more than 100 baseball players to participate in offseason workouts with AP. MARCIA C. SMITH, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Pitcher Matt Hobgood, a Baltimore Orioles first-round pick in 2009 out of Norco, goes through strength and stability training as part of his Oct. 22 two-hour workout at Athletes' Performance in Carlsbad. MARCIA C. SMITH, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

PEDs IN BASEBALL

PART 1: A look at baseball's efforts to clean up the game and how those efforts have worked.

PART 2: The offseason can be a dangerous time when players are more vulnerable to outside influences and temptations. Many athletes are increasingly cautious, relying only on trusted personal trainers and working out at reputable facilities, while teams have ramped up their efforts to monitor players during the winter.

PART 3: Supplements are as much a staple of the game as ever, used by virtually every player. Baseball has made a push to eliminate all but certified, safe supplements.

PART 4: Continuing education of players from the major leagues to the youth leagues, is a cornerstone of baseball's efforts to eradicate PED use.

CARLSBAD – The seventh Athletes’ Performance facility opened here in March inside a mammoth, two-story, 14,000 square-foot complex that looks more like a factory because of its minimalist industrial design.

Flat-screen TVs suspended from the ceilings show ESPN. “Every day is a Game Day” and other motivational slogans cover the walls. A blender whirs at the hydration bar, mixing the NSF Certified for Sport EAS-brand pre- and post-workout drinks and shakes that are then labeled for each client and placed in a tall refrigerator.

It was a late October morning when two minor-league pitchers, Matt Hobgood and Nolan Gannon, were lying on yoga mats in the corner of a state-of-the-art fitness gym, kneading lumps in their calves with what looked like rolling pins.

Performance specialist Aletheia Fadness guided the pair from this soft-tissue warmup and stretching through the remaining and much more demanding two-hour workout. They train together five days a week.

Athletes’ Performance was founded in 1999 by personal trainer Mark Verstegan as a “refuge for professional and elite athletes.” The company once headquartered in a Tempe, Ariz., strip mall has expanded to seven world-class facilities serving more than 100 ballplayers in Southern California, Arizona, Florida, Texas and North Carolina.

Its offseason package, which runs from September to March, ranges in price from $4,500 and $9,500.

Every client begins the program by completing a 22-page registration packet, which asks for a full medical history and requires each player to sign its performance-enhancing drug use policy.

The document states, “As a member of the Athletes’ Performance community, by signing below, I swear that I am not currently nor will I in the future use any performance enhancing substances prohibited by my sport’s governing body.” Athletes’ Performance refuses service to those who admit or have been suspended for banned PED use.

A comprehensive evaluation follows, starting in Carlsbad with Jill Olson, a performance nutritionist and registered dietician. She interviews each client about his health and diet, conducts a seven-site Bod Pod body composition screening, measures height and weight and takes photographs and baseline body contours. She offers to take blood panels to determine any dietary deficiencies.

Then performance physical therapist Joe Walker puts each athlete through a nose-to-toes orthopedic evaluation and full functional movement test to detect any stability, flexibility and joint mobility issues that might be barriers for training.

With information from the screenings, the player’s desired goals, guidelines from major-league team offseason binders, and demands of each player’s position, the Athletes’ Performance team of nutritionist, physical therapist and trainer customize a meal and supplement plan and workout regimen with Athletes’ Performance baseball director Jason Maresh, a licensed strength and conditioning coach.

“My priority in coming to AP was finding a place that was going to have me do things the right way,” said Hobgood, 23, the 2009 Baltimore Orioles’ first-round selection out of Norco High, where he was the Gatorade national baseball player of the year.

In saying “the right way,” Hobgood was referring not only to the proper workout techniques but the environment free of shortcuts.

“The guys who come here have a strong ethic and want to be clean and have long careers,” said Maresh, 46, who has worked with former Angel-turned-Detroit outfielder Torii Hunter for 11 seasons.

“They want to be in a safe place and be around other players who work just as hard in a strenuous program and share the ethical, drug-free mindset. They don’t want to be around cheaters.”

At the workout’s end, Hobgood and Gannon went to the hydration bar and received two post-workout drinks, each custom mixed and labeled with the athlete’s name: an EAS BetaGen shooter and a EAS protein supplement shake. Hobgood and Gannon also received an NSF Certified for Sport multivitamin and a fish-oil tablet.

“Having the piece of mind that what you’re doing and what you’re taking is safe is huge for me,” said Gannon, 20, Tampa Bay’s 2012 fourth-round selection out of Santa Fe Christian in San Diego.

“This is an age where you have to take responsibility and be careful.”

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